SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468
*International Space Station Status Report #06-1*
*11 a.m. CST, Friday, Jan. 6, 2006*
*Expedition 12 Crew*
It was back to work this week for the Expedition 12 crewmembers after a
long New Year's weekend that marked the halfway point in their six-month
stay aboard the space station.
Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev had a
relatively quiet New Year's Day, celebrating with a Russian meal. They
also took Monday off, talking with family and acquaintances. McArthur
conducted ham radio contacts with schools on the ground during the week.
Dec. 31 was the first day of the second half of the crew’s stay aboard
the station. McArthur and Tokarev will spend their 100th day in space on
Sunday.
Earlier this week the crew worked to unload the cargo of the ISS
Progress 20 cargo craft that docked to the Pirs Docking Compartment Dec.
23. Progress 19 remains at the aft docking port of the Zvezda Service
Module as the crew continues to use its oxygen to replenish the
station's atmosphere. The Elektron system that provides the primary
source for oxygen generation on the ISS will be reactivated next week
after being deliberately shut off since mid-December.
McArthur engaged in computer training for the FOOT experiment this week.
FOOT measures activity and pressure on a crewmembers’ legs and feet in
microgravity to help scientists determine how long duration missions
contribute to bone and muscle loss. He conducted a dry run to calibrate
the experiment on Wednesday. McArthur also reconfigured power supplies
to the station’s computers. Thursday, he worked with the Binary
Colloidal Alloy (BCAT) experiment, which looks at the behavior in
microgravity of fine particles suspended in a liquid. Paint, milk and
ink are common examples of colloids.
Tokarev worked much of the week setting up the “Matryoshka” radiation
detection experiment. It measures radiation levels to which the crew is
exposed. Tokarev set up detectors around the station and spent time with
a companion “Phantom" torso experiment, placing about 370 radiation
detectors around the horizontally-sliced replica of the upper part of a
human body. With that completed, Tokarev mounted the dummy torso in the
Pirs Docking Compartment for data collection.
The week drew to a close with additional scientific experiments and the
installation of a batteries in the U.S. spacesuits on board. Throughout
the week, the crewmembers also exercised and performed station maintenance.
Information on the crew's activities aboard the space station, future
launch dates, as well as station sighting opportunities from anywhere on
the Earth, is available on the Internet at:
http://www.nasa.gov/station
The next station status report will be issued on Friday, Jan. 13, or
earlier if events warrant.
----
Via the sarex mailing list at AMSAT.ORG courtesy of AMSAT-NA.
To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe sarex" to Majordomo@amsat.org